1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an apparatus for supporting and periodically and gradually tilting a human body to provide multidirectional movement to human beings. The apparatus enables a user to experience sensations which have been reported to be stress-relieving, relaxing and generally beneficial.
2. Description of Prior Art
Existing prior patents which may be pertinent to this invention are as follows:
______________________________________ Nisle 1,420,134 June 20, 1922 Marchese 1,909,204 May 16, 1933 Kost 2,595,272 May 6, 1952 Rubin 2,808,828 October 8, 1957 Fujimoto 3,678,924 July 25, 1972 Jameson 3,916,882 November 4, 1975 Graham 4,256,095 March 10, 1981 Stillman 5,044,377 September 3, 1991 ______________________________________
None of these patents offer the new and novel features of the present invention. The Fujimoto device has a pressing plate with projections. However, this plate does not rotate, nor does it or could it drive any human-holding cradle or bed structure. Jameson teaches a bed capable of rhythmic tilting, while Rubin shows a bed with a ball joint for rocking it in three directions. The Marchese cradle is rocked by a mechanical drive with linkage. Nisle shows a mechanical drive attached to a ball joint for multidirectional movement. Graham discloses an electromechanical therapeutic apparatus for rotating a human subject about a horizontal axis and through a continuum of horizontal planes, while subjecting the human subject to a low energy electrical field. Kost has a chair or crib apparatus mounted on a ball joint and rocked with a moveable crank arm. The Stillman apparatus provides multidirectional tilting but it does so by rotating the human subject on a platform which is slant-mounted to a drive shaft. However, none of these devices are like the apparatus of subject invention.